This in from NHL insider Brian Lawton, a former NHL GM and player agent, his take that the Edmonton Oilers are on the right path in negotiating with hockey’s best player Connor McDavid and that things will work out well for McDavid and the Oilers in the end.

“I wouldn’t be overly if I was the general manager or the owner of the club,” Lawton said. “I believe Connor’s 100% committed to the club and he’s just exercising his right to do it on his terms.”

The right negotiating path with McDavid was always to let him and his camp call the shots, Lawton told show host Bob Stauffer.

“I would never make Connor McDavid an offer that he would reject. And the only way you can do that — and I’ve had negotiations somewhat like this but not to this level — the only way you can do that is walk in and say, ‘Look, what do you want?’ And you let them dictate what the conversations are. You’re not giving up your right to negotiate. It’s just a way where you don’t ever, you don’t want to go in and give the wrong impressions, stuff a player.”

Stauffer asked Lawton if Oilers fan should be concerned that McDavid is yet to sign.

“I wouldn’t be concerned right now. I just think that when you look at Connor and how he handles himself, I feel like he’s a very committed player to Edmonton. I feel like, and these are only my opinions, but I feel like he’s a guy that will never be satisfied in life if he doesn’t get this team and organization over the hump…. Connor is a rare player where winning in the Stanley Cup playoffs is a team effort. But Connor, in my opinion, absorbs a lot of accountability by his own accord, I might add, because I believe that’s the way he looks at his career. He knows he can’t win by himself, but he also knows he’s going to be a large part of driving that final outcome. So I don’t see him not signing with Edmonton.”

Stauffer pointed out that McDavid with fellow team leaders Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse showing up first for pre-camp team skates, and McDavid recruiting players like Andrew Mangiapane and Ike Howard this summer, demonstrate McDavid’s commitment to the Oilers.

Lawton agreed: “There’s a lot of tells that Connor McDavid will be back with the Edmonton Oilers and back beyond this year, even though technically as it sits right now he could become an unrestricted free agent next year. But I would not be worried about that the least bit. And I don’t say that lightly, because when you’re a general manager of a club, there’s a lot of things to worry about. But this one wouldn’t be that high.”

It’s not always easy for the player and his agent to make the right decision for the player, and not every agent will agree on the correct path. “If we picked ten agents, we’d come up with a lot of different combinations of answers to that question.”

Lawton added not all players are the same. “Some guys (players) want to make the most money and that’s their goal. Some guys like Conor McDavid just want to win and that’s their goal. And some guys are more in the middle… I’ve played with guys, I worked with guys at NHL Network, one in particular, that, you know, when it came to the playoffs, he didn’t really care. He just wanted to have a great career and he’s a terrific guy. But you could imagine me looking at him and saying, ‘What’s wrong with you? We only play this game to try to win. The rest of the stuff is just a bonus.’”

Lawton doesn’t see money as the be-all, end-all for McDavid. “I don’t think money is the driving force… I think he wants to win. I think he knows the history of the game. He’s familiar with all the greatest players if he doesn’t know them personally. And he knows that the reason they’re the greatest players is because they’re winners, they’re champions, and very, very few players, you know, end up in that rarefied air without winning. And I think that’s his priority, which is a wonderful thing. If you’re the owner of the club or a general manager, because you know these guys are so committed.”

My take

1. I like Lawton’s take, first of all because he makes it clear he’s giving his own opinion. He’s not implying, as so many of us do, that he knows what Connor McDavid will do as if he can read McDavid’s mind. None of us can do that, but many people speak about McDavid as if they know his inner thoughts.

We can judge McDavid by his words. We can also assess the credibility and insider status of those who say he’s going to sign here and those folks (mainly in Toronto) who say he will not. But only McDavid knows what he’s thinking here.

2. Lawton is an insider in the NHL, with Stauffer the ultimate Oilers insider outside of folks in Edmonton management. Stauffer has said repeatedly he’s not worried that McDavid will refuse to sign here. He’s said he’s 102 per cent certain it will happen. Stauffer is evidently privy to inside information that we don’t have access to. At the same time, when I listen Oilers hockey bosses Jeff Jackson talk about the negotiation, I don’t see any nervousness or hesitation about McDavid signing a new deal here. Jackson has said he’s confident that will happen in due time, that there’s no rush, and speaks in confident and precise terms about a deal coming together. Embedded in his speech is the certainty of a successful outcome.

McDavid does not speak that way. Based on what he says, he’s clearly keeping all options open. That makes sense. If he wants to consider and explore all options — and he’d be irresponsible not to do so — he can’t have made up his mind before the negotiation begins that he’s going to sign a new deal here no matter what. For the negotiation to be a win for him, he’s got to wrestle with all the facts, all the options, all the possibilities and that’s what he appears to be doing. That may not make Oilers fan completely comfortable, but it’s his life, he’s got that right, so he should proceed on this path.

In the meantime, this particular Oilers fan takes solace in Lawton’s excellent analysis.